I could see the startled expression on Moni’s face but she quickly hid it. “We need go now. Please, again welcome.”
“Go? Nah. Stick around. Help us unload some of this crap. I’m telling you, most of this I could have dumped before we left.”
The lack of boundaries this woman had was nothing new to my Moni. Since coming to this country, she had quickly learned some Americans never really had them. But I had watched her stealthily step around this before. She had practice over the years in how to handle these one-sided, clashing circumstances.
“Oh. I so old,” she joked and took my hand and Marlow’s.
“Old? You don’t look it,” Ada said with a deep-throated cackle.
“This is Isla and Marlow,” Moni said, putting us in front of her like two small buffers.
Ada looked behind her and then around the back of the truck. “Did I mention I moved here with my grandson? He’s likely about your age. Will be really nice to have some kiddos to play with in the neighborhood.
“Sawyer. Sawyer!” She looked around again. “Boy must be in the backyard somewhere. Go find him, will you? And thank you for this!” She patted the container like a drum.
Moni lifted one eyebrow. “You’re welcome.”
She left us to find the boy and scuttled her way back inside the house, looking over her shoulder a few times.
I took Marlow’s hand and walked across the patchy brown-and-green yard around to the back. The house had pale-yellow siding and a gray shed on the edge of the property. A large lilac bush shook. I watched petals fall down, a shower of purple confetti.
A skinny boy emerged with limbs like a young deer, angled every which way. His sandy hair hung over his green eyes as he peered at us both.
“There’s a wasp nest at the top of that shed,” he said, pointing a long stick upward and tapping the roof.
Marlow looked up and then took a step behind me.
“Are you two sisters?”
“Huh?”
“Sisters. You both have the same look on your face.”
I shook my head as if that would make sense of it. “Are you Sawyer?” I asked as I looked up to try to find the nest.
“Yup.” He whacked the black shingled roof again with the stick. A single wasp buzzed out and disappeared into the sky. “My grandma and I drove here from Wyoming. You ever been there? We have moose that walk around. Ever see a moose?”
“Not in real life.” I batted at another wasp. Marlow ducked. “Why did you move to Minnesota then?”
“I had to come here with Grandma Ada.”
“Why?”
“My dad left.”
Something in his voice made me stop asking questions. He hit the roof even harder; bits of bark flew everywhere.
“Don’t do that,” I ordered.
“I’m getting the nest.”
“But you’ll knock the nest. And then all the wasps will fly out, angry. We’ll get stung.”
“My Grandma Ada says you can suck the venom out. You’ll be fine.”
I scoffed. “I don’t want to get stung. And I don’t even know if she’s allergic or not.”
Marlow nodded emphatically. “Yeah. We don’t want to get stung. So, stop it.”
Sawyer pulled the stick down. “How’d you know my name?” He squinted one eye as his upper lip stretched across his oversize, crooked front teeth.
“Your grandma. She told us to find you.”
He put one of his hands in his pocket and looked down for a moment as if considering his options.
“And you?”
“Me?”
“Your name.”
“Isla.”
“Her?” He pointed with his stick.
“Marlow.”
“All right, Isla and Marlow. I won’t try to knock that nest down.” He bent to get rid of the stick. A small plastic figurine landed in the grass. I leaned in and looked down. It was in the shape of a knight, the head covered in a closed helmet and visor. It was shiny and blinked at me in the sunlight.
